Troy went 18 months without a required quarterly financial report. The council made budget decisions by word of mouth. The state rejected the city’s first annual filing of Mantello’s term. The city paid more than $260,000 to outside accounting firms to fill a job that was supposed to have a permanent employee.
None of this was inevitable. Mantello inherited a city with functional books and a comptroller’s office that had operated continuously. She chose not to fill the seat during the transition. That decision started a chain of failures that took more than a year and a half to stabilize.
The Transition
Andy Petroski departed as Mantello took office in January 2024. The city’s accounting software, KVS, had been running since the 1980s. Its manual entry process regularly landed transactions in wrong accounts, and only the outgoing comptroller knew how to manage it. Mantello did not secure a replacement before taking over.
Instead, the city used ProNexus, an outside accounting firm, to handle the books. ProNexus filed the FY 2023 Annual Financial Report with the State Comptroller. The state found it unreliable. Cash was off from Pioneer Bank records by $8 to $9 million. The 2023 AFR had to be pulled and corrected.
Partisan angle: Mantello ran on competence. She started her term without a comptroller and left the city’s books to an outside firm that filed a report the state rejected.
Dylan Spring
Mantello hired Dylan Spring as comptroller in February 2024. At the May Finance meeting, the administration presented the Q4 2023 quarterly report in place of the Q1 2024 report, which was not ready. At the June 20 Finance meeting, Spring presented Q1 2024 with no advance notice. The report arrived five minutes before the meeting. Council President Sue Steele said it was the first time in her five years on the council that a Q1 report had not been available for advance review. A motion to defer failed.
Then Spring left. He walked out of the June 20 meeting mid-presentation. He did not return the next day or the day after. He came back June 25 to submit his two-week notice. His last day was July 9, 2024.
Q2, Q3, and Q4 2024 were never formally presented to the council.
No Comptroller
From July 2024 through January 2025, Troy had no comptroller. Treasurer Gabrielle Mahoney, whose permanent title was Chief Account Clerk, managed daily operations. BST & Co., led by partner Brendan Kennedy, served as the city’s outside accounting consultant. The council authorized BST’s engagement on August 22, 2024 to close out FY 2023 and provide 2024 accounting services. That engagement cost the city more than $260,000.
The comptroller salary was raised from $103,966 to a range of $125,000 to $150,000 to attract candidates. About 20 people interviewed. Multiple candidates withdrew after watching council meetings.
In September 2024, Steele said: “We have not received any quarterly reports. We don’t have a comptroller. It’s like we know nothing about the finances, and that’s a very frightening situation to be in as a member of the council.”
The October 10 budget arrived seven minutes before the legal deadline. It had errors. Corrected materials came almost an hour late.
Jack Krokos
Mantello hired Jack Krokos in January 2025. Krokos was a former Republican town councilman in Sand Lake and a senior portfolio manager at Bank of Greene County. At his February council confirmation, he acknowledged that he lacked direct municipal accounting experience and was relying on BST for guidance.
Krokos resigned April 3, 2025, after less than three months. Mantello cited family obligations. He had committed to presenting the Q1 2025 financial report. He did not appear for the scheduled presentation.
Steele: “Looking forward, a qualified successor must be named immediately. There remain real questions about the city’s finances and spending.”
Michael McNeff
Mantello announced Michael McNeff’s appointment on May 28, 2025. McNeff had served as Chief Accountant for Albany County and Director of Finance and CFO for the City of Watervliet. He started June 16, 2025, at a salary of $150,000.
On his first day, BST presented the Q1 2025 quarterly financial report. It was the first formal quarterly report the council had received in 18 months.
The report was not reassuring. The city had already burned through more than 40% of its annual staff overtime budget in the first quarter.
The Audit
On November 20, 2025, the council voted 7-0 to accept the FY 2024 independent audit by the Bonadio Group (Resolution 114). The audit carried an adverse opinion on capital assets. The city had not depreciated its capital assets for more than 20 years, a structural issue that predated the Mantello administration. Bonadio auditor Alan Walther called it atypical for a city Troy’s size.
The management letter flagged excess cash accounts and the misclassification of federal awards as state aid in the general ledger. Two material weaknesses were identified: the general ledger was not being reconciled in a timely way, and cash reconciliations were not done on time.
The FY 2024 AFR was filed April 28, 2025, a few days ahead of the May 1 deadline. It was the first on-time annual filing of Mantello’s term. Steele: “Is that a high bar? I don’t really think so, but I’m taking it as good news.”
What Steele Said
Steele’s remarks across 18 months form a single through-line.
May 2024: “It’s scary to me that we are in this situation, because we’ve done so well with our finances.”
September 2024: “We have not received any quarterly reports. We don’t have a comptroller. It’s like we know nothing about the finances.”
April 2025: “A qualified successor must be named immediately.”
May 2025: “Is that a high bar? I don’t really think so, but I’m taking it as good news.”
She was right each time.
Sources: WAMC, May 24, 2024; WAMC, September 27, 2024; WAMC, November 22, 2024; WAMC, April 3, 2025; Spectrum News, April 4, 2025; WAMC, May 29, 2025; WAMC, July 3, 2025; Troy City Council Finance Meeting, March 6, 2025 (transcript); Troy City Council Special Meeting, November 20, 2025 (transcript)